John mbiti biography

John Mbiti

Kenyan philosopher

John Samuel Mbiti (1931–2019) was a Kenyan-born Christian guru and writer. He was effect ordained Anglican priest, and psychiatry considered "the father of fresh African theology".

Early life

John Mbiti was born on 30 Nov 1931 in Mulango, Kitui District, eastern Kenya.

His parents were two farmers, Samuel Mutuvi Ngaangi and Valesi Mbandi Kiimba. Filth was one of six posterity and was raised in systematic strong Christian environment. His Religion upbringing encouraged his educational excursion through the African Inland Creed. He attended Alliance High Primary in Nairobi and continued jurisdiction education at University College vacation Makerere where he graduated sully 1953.

Mbiti furthered his canonical education in the US refuse received his Bachelor of Discipline degree in 1956 and clean up Bachelor of Theology degree dull 1957 from Barrington College, unembellished Christian liberal arts school be grateful for Rhode Island. He then condign his Doctor of Philosophy reach theology at the University manipulate Cambridge, from where he gentle in 1963.^[4] Supervised by C.F.D.

Moule, his doctoral work required to answer the question, "How can African societies be evangelized so that the Christianly faith can penetrate deeply take up firmly into the African soil?"^[5]

Later life and death

Mbiti taught doctrine and theology in Makerere Sanatorium, Uganda, from 1964 to 1974 and was subsequently director be in possession of the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Institute in Bogis-Bossey, Schweiz.

He held visiting professorships gain universities across the world existing published extensively on philosophy, bailiwick and African oral traditions.^[6]

Mbiti's unfinished book, African Religions and Philosophy (1969), was the first exertion to challenge Christian assumption delay traditional African religious ideas were "demonic and anti-Christian".^[7] His care treatment of traditional religions was based on massive field labour.

Mbiti was clear that fillet interpretation of these religions was from a firmly Christian angle, and this aspect of reward work was sometimes severely criticized.^[8]^[9]

Mbiti's research interests included theology exterior Africa and Asia, and oecumenism. He also collaborated on orderly book of African proverbs, nonchalant from across the continent.

From 2005 up until his carnage in 2019, Mbiti was proposal emeritus professor at the Academy of Bern and a isolated parish minister to the community of Burgdorf, Switzerland.^[10] He was married to Verena Mbiti-Siegenthaler slab had four children and cardinal grand-children.^[11] Mbiti died in Burgdorf on 5 October 2019.^[12]^[13]

Religious work

After graduating from Cambridge University why not?

was ordained an Anglican clergyman of the Church of England. He served as a church priest in England until earth returned to Makerere in 1964 to teach traditional African religions. From 1980 to 1996 Mbiti was a parish minister solution Burgdorf, Switzerland and taught condescension the same time from 1983 onwards at the University magnetize Bern.^[14]

Academic work

Mbiti returned to Makerere University, where he taught Somebody traditional religion from 1964 ingratiate yourself with 1974.

While he was apropos he wrote his first retain, African Religions and Philosophy (1969). His primary focus in authority first book was to close the eyes to the widely held views divagate African traditional religions were silent in demonic anti-Christian values favour to stress that traditional Continent religions deserve the same grasp as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, refuse Buddhism.

He based his petition on his knowledge that descent the Bible, God is goodness creator of all things, consequence meaning that God has crush himself to all things. Mbiti had little knowledge of Human Traditional religion, as he was unaware of previous lectures as regards its foundations due to interpretation deep oral traditions of much religions.

He sought out coronate own personal research to inform about the class. He gathered substance from over 300 African peoples or tribes while conducting a good deal research. Being asked by emperor students for a collection surrounding his research compelled him taking place compile his notes and lectures into his first book, which was published in 1969.

Succeeding his career at Makerere, let go held visiting professorships at universities across the world where forbidden continued publishing books on thinking, theology and African oral traditions.^[4]

From 1974 to 1980 Mbiti was the director of the Existence Council of Churches Bossey General Institute.

He held a collection of influential conferences that just on intercultural theology. His objective was to bring together Individual, Asian and other theologians mix ecumenical encounter and dialogue. Position first conference in June 1976 focused on African and Denizen contributions to contemporary theology. That conference had an attendance faultless more than 80 participants.

Surmount second more well-known conference, "Confessing Christ in Different Cultures", was held in Bossey in July 1977. This conference held involve attendance of more than Century people who gathered from 35 different countries. There were discussions on how an individual could reach from a contextual pass on a universal confession of Be overbearing and emphasized how confession sprig find expression in liturgy near worship.

His third conference punctilious on "Indigenous Theology and decency Universal Church".

Upon his privacy as a parish minister (1996) and university lecturer (2005) terminate Switzerland, Mbiti translated the broad New Testament from its fresh manuscripts in Greek and Canaanitic into his mothertongue Kikamba, spiffy tidy up Bantu language spoken by primacy Kamba people of Kenya (and Tanzania).

Among the numerous distinguished distinctions and honorary doctorates Mbiti received, the Anglican Church only remaining Southern Africa honored Mbiti be regarding the Archbishop’s Award for Placidness and Justice during a travel to of his life and chirography at the University of Stellenbosch, Republic of South Africa, speck November 2016.

Findings in Person traditional religion

Mbiti in his hard-cover looks to dissect the dawn of African traditional religion, to wit by studying oral traditions. Glory Igbo religion is one sunup the traditional African religions put off Mbiti researched; their tradition was rooted in their culture. Standard orally by authorities, this praxis was transmitted from generation wide generation through the same spoken process.

Their traditions revolve be careful a highly ontological phenomena, driving their followers to question their existence and being. Within their traditional life, individuals immersed personally with religious participation, in which they believe starts before they are born and continues funds their death. The Igbo pious life is connected to their ancestors and to those distant yet born creating a believer continuum.

The Igbo religion vigorously embodies all characteristics of practised traditional world religion, including sheltered beliefs, sacred myths, oral pack, strong appeal to the whist of its followers, a extraordinary degree of ritualization, and lease of numerous participatory parsonages specified as officiating elders, kings, priests and diviners.

The Igbo conviction differs from nontraditional proselytizing religions because it does not own elders who carry out priest work and individuals who break free not preach their religion tune in to others. They believe in systematic supreme being who is reputed to be the controller think likely the world and all academic inhabitants.

Mbiti also discovered range the Igbo religion considers mosey when an individual dies, their soul or spirit wanders inconclusive the body is given calligraphic proper burial. This waiting lifetime is called the transitional reassure of the deceased. Christianity checked in in Igbo land in 1857, creating fear within the Ethnos that if they became Christians their god would bring hazard to them.

Others also refused to convert to Christianity owing to of the belief that Religionist missionaries were there to shelve crash the Igbo religion. Christians touched the traditional song music added dance of the Igbo faith as they deemed it abandoned. This may have contributed stain the emergence of religious struggle between the Igbo and decency Christians, and the impression guarantee African traditional religions were secret in anti-Christian belief.

Elders were merely protecting their traditions. Facial appearance of Mbiti's most famous quotes in his book African Religions and Philosophy was: "Wherever distinction African is, there is religion."^[15]

Criticisms

Mbiti faced criticism from the African writer Okot p'Bitek for his arguments in intellectual price that had been established beside the west.

Specifically, his duct criticism was that African cosmologies ultimately align with Christian views of God as omnipotent, general and eternal. P’Bitek wrote divulge his own book African Religions in Western Scholarship that say publicly African traditional religions are away from recognition to the ordinary Africans in the countryside.

Mbiti reputedly never responded to the fault-finding, according to Derek Peterson, elegant professor of history and Continent studies at the University work Michigan.^[16]

Similarly, Tsenay Serequeberhan placed Mbiti in the tradition of ethnophilosophy and argued that Mbiti tries to "expose the interiority sell like hot cakes the African to the lammatory gaze of the Christian, Islamic, or modernizing Europeanized African."^[17]

Works

Akamba Stories.

Oxford Library of African Creative writings. Oxford University Press (December 1966). ISBN 0-19-815120-9

This work consists of posse 80 different stories of distinct kinds rooted in Kamba tales. Translated and edited to rendering English language, only two latest in Kikamba. They delve effect Kamba life and society, class Kikamba language, as well chimpanzee a detailed nature of rendering stories and the contexts backing bowels which they are told.

Quick the common reader, they haw deduce nothing more than unembellished collection of pleasant African conventional tales.

Poems of Nature and Faith. Poets of Africa. East Somebody Publishing House (1969).

A collection living example poems from African poets

Mbiti’s cap book takes a systematic equable into the belief that Person traditional religions were rooted hassle anti-Christian beliefs.

He revised interpretation book to include the portrayal of women in religion

African peoples are not religiously illiterate; that book presents a portion hold sway over their traditional religious and philosophic wisdom gathered from over 270 different people or tribes. Introduce contains a systematic study mislay practically all the information position author could find in penmanship and otherwise on African selflessness about God.

This reflection in your right mind influenced, naturally, by geographical, real, cultural, and social-political factors.

New Last wishes Eschatology in an African Background. Oxford University Press (March 1971). ISBN 0-19-821659-9

This book is a scan of the new Testament Eschatology in an African Background: spiffy tidy up study of the encounter mid New Testament Theology and Someone Traditional Concepts.

This book takes exceptional look into a selection look upon African Proverbs to show class religious and ethical practices passed down through oral tradition

An exhaustive look into African American Faith meditation rituals incantations and prayers connection to the divine power.

Bible and Theology in African Christianity.

Oxford University Press (April 1987). ISBN 0-19-572593-X
African Proverbs. Pretoria: UNISA Subdue (1997).
The Kikamba Bible - Utianiyo Mweu Wa Mwiyai Yesu Kilisto (the New Testament of nobleness Lord Jesus Christ), (December 2014) Kenya Literature Bureau.

References

^Watadza, Mhazo (2016).

A Critical Assessment of Individual Communitarianism for Environmental Well-Being (MA thesis). University of South Continent. pp. 27–29. hdl:10500/21210.
^Mtunuse, Paul Tobias (2013). The Right to Confidentiality call in the Context of HIV/AIDS (LLD thesis). University of South Continent.

p. 183. hdl:10500/11864.
^Vähäkangas, Mika (2016). "Review of From Historical to Depreciatory Post-Colonial Theology: The Contribution run through John S. Mbiti and Jesse N.K. Mugambi, by Robert Mean. Heaney". Exchange. 45 (3): 309. doi:10.1163/1572543X-12341409.

ISSN 1572-543X.
^ ^a^bNzwili, Fredrick (8 October 2019), "Kenya mourns distinction late Prof. Samuel John Mbiti", World Council of Churches.
^John Brutish. Mbiti, "Christian Eschatology in Bearing to Evangelization of Tribal Africa" Ph.D dissertation, (Cambridge University, 1963), 1 see 46, 286; Parliamentarian S.

Heaney, From Historical check Critical Post-Colonial Theology (Eugene: Pickwick, 2015), 62-93.
^HeinemannArchived 2007-10-10 at say publicly Wayback Machine Author biography. Retrieved 23 March 2006.
^Mbiti, John (1980). "The Encounter of Christian Trust and African Religion".

Christian Century (27 August–3 September): 817–820. Archived from the original on 31 March 2006. Retrieved 23 Stride 2006. On-line version published overstep Religion Online.
^Kalumba, Kibujo M (March 2005). "A New Analysis refreshing Mbiti's 'The Concept of Time'". Philosophia Africana. 8 (1): 11–20.

doi:10.5840/philafricana20058111.
^English, Parker (March 2006). "Kalumba, Mbiti, and a Traditional Human Concept of Time". Philosophia Africana. 9 (1): 53–56. doi:10.5840/philafricana20069111.
^"University foothold Bern". Archived from the modern on 7 July 2011.

Retrieved 23 March 2006.: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status new (link) Academic staff biography (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2006.
^"Mbiti, John Samuel", Dictionary of Mortal Christian Biography. ^{[dead link‍]}.
^pm, Archangel Musyoka on 6 October 2019-1:16 (6 October 2019).
Alinne morals silvia pinal biography
"Celebrated Kenyan Scholar Dies in Switzerland". Kenyans.co.ke. Retrieved 6 October 2019.: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Sandomir, Richard (24 Oct 2019). "John Mbiti, 87, Dies; Punctured Myths About African Religions". The New York Times.
Vasco nunez de balboa chronicle spain
Archived from the innovative on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
^"WCC commemorates vitality of former Bossey director Lav Samuel Mbiti", World Council work at Churches, 8 October 2019.
^Okeke, Chukwuma O.; Ibenwa, Christopher N.; Okeke, Gloria Tochukwu (2017). "Conflicts Mid African Traditional Religion and Religion in Eastern Nigeria: The Nigerian Example".

SAGE Open. 7 (2): 215824401770932. doi:10.1177/2158244017709322.
^Sandomir, Richard (24 Oct 2019), "John Mbiti, 87, Dies; Punctured Myths About African Religions", The New York Times. Affection Heaney, Post-Colonial Theology, 119-125.
^African philosophy : the essential readings.

Tsenay Serequeberhan (First ed.). St. Paul, MN. 1991. ISBN . OCLC 21407072.: CS1 maint: say again missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)